The streets of many cities in the United Kingdom are famously monitored with a vast network of CCTV cameras. This is supposed to help law enforcement and ensure safe streets. One specific police officer in an unnamed south England town learned of the downsides of these cameras- the hard way.
The undercover policeman walking the beat was notified by CCTV monitoring headquarters of a person acting suspiciously on his beat. The policeman immediately set out to find the dodgy character. CCTV operators provided the cop with detailed information about the suspect’s movements and location, and the cop continually reported that he was “hot on the heels” of the suspect. Anytime he arrived at the suspect’s alleged location her reported that he saw no one.
Only after twenty minutes of a tireless chase did the CCTV operator realize that the suspect in question was actually the cop himself. A mistaken reading of the CCTV’s live footage had led them to consider the cop himself a suspect, causing the police officer to chase his own tail.